The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies.

ABSTRACT: Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations and more intense, ongoing star formation than their outer parts, indicating ongoing growth of the cent

SUBMITTER: Chen YM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5075802 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature